This year’s National Award winners reflect that it was primarily their self-belief which got them there, BT lists the top of the pops...

Saif Ali Khan
has certainly come a long way, having just won the Best Actor Award for Hum Tum. He has evolved as a fine actor over the years and this just goes to prove it.

Buddhadeb Dasgupta
A veteran director of Bengali cinema, Buddhadeb Dasgupta expanded his cinematic horizons when he signed on Bollywood actors. He won the award for the Best Director for his Bengali film, Swapner Din.

Madhur Bhandarkar and Bobby Pushkarna
Page 3 is Bobby’s first production venture with Madhur. The film was mired in controversy when Madhur was accused on a rape charge. The problem further increased with the duo falling out. Today, they are grinning as the film has gone on to win Best Feature Film Award at the National Awards.

Yash Chopra
has done it again. His belief in his kind of cinema, beautiful love stories, underlined with patriotism, has once again brought him national recognition with Veer Zaara, as he shares the Most Popular Film Award with Cheran’s Tamil film, Autograph.

Shyam Benegal
He is the pioneer of parallel cinema in India, but the seasoned director has successfully brought a commercial flavour in his recent films. The Nargis Dutt Award for National Integration went to him for Bose: The Forgotten Hero.